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Rhone Resch

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President & Chief Executive Officer

In the last eight years as President and CEO of SEIA, Rhone Resch lead the industry's charge on the creation of the 30 percent investment tax credit, the 1603 Treasury Program, and over 18 other provisions that have helped grow the U.S. solar industry from a 52 MW/year market in 2004 to nearly a 2,000 MW/year market today. Full bio>>

Benjamin Franklin once said, “half the truth is often a great lie.” Keep that in mind when you read a recent report prepared for our friends at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) about Germany’s experience with renewable energy, including solar power.

Here’s the gist of the argument made by the energy consulting firm, Finadvice: Germany’s wholesale markets are suffering from “disequilibrium” because of increased consumer costs. The 86-page report is pretty much a hatchet job on renewables. “In conclusion, the lessons learned in Europe prove that the large-scale integration of renewable power does not provide net savings to consumers, but rather a net increase in costs to consumers and other stakeholders,” according to the report.

Really? That’s the problem with half-truths. Not surprisingly, there’s no mention of the enormous societal costs of the damaging pollution which is caused by burning fossil fuels and undeniably driving climate change.

So what’s the other side of the story – the one utilities fail to mention? In response to that question, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) today released a comprehensive study taking an in-depth look at Germany’s solar support programs and how the United States can benefit in the long term from the experiences of the world’s leading solar producer.

When it comes to clean energy and sustainability, solar looks to be a shoo-in one day for the “green” Hall of Fame. Today, more and more sports teams, sports leagues and sports organizations are embracing the advantages of solar energy.

Two recent developments clearly demonstrate why America remains “bullish” on solar energy. But they’re also vivid reminders of why we need to remain vigilant. As an organization, and as an industry, too much is at stake for us to become complacent. As the old saying goes on Capitol Hill: “What Congress giveth, Congress can taketh away.”

If you listen to many utility executives, distributed solar energy has the potential to destabilize electrical grids and result in huge cost shifts for many American consumers. Well, as the Irish are fond of saying: blarney!

Today, President Obama announced at a Walmart in California that 300 leading U.S. companies have taken the “solar pledge,” committing to install nearly 1 gigawatt (GW) of new solar as part of their business plans. For America’s solar energy industry, this is like getting a triple-A investment rating from Moody’s or Standard and Poor’s. Solar has become a ‘street-smart’ investment. These companies are expanding their use of solar because it makes sense from both a business and social responsibility viewpoint. Having worked closely with both the Administration and the private sector to increase the use of clean, reliable solar nationwide, SEIA applauds this exciting, new initiative, and we look forward to assisting commercial businesses, home builders, rural coops, governmental entities and America’s financial community in bringing these new solar installations online.

As expected, a non-partisan committee of experts released its 148-page National Climate Assessment (NCA) report today, offering the starkest warning yet about the dangers of climate change. After reading the report, I was left with one inescapable conclusion: We’re in real trouble unless we dramatically ramp up our efforts to curb pollution.

In 1970, the first Earth Day was held to demonstrate broad global support for environmental protection. At the time, the world’s population stood at 3.63 billion. Today, that number has more than doubled.

Well, guess what? Greenhouse gas emissions have doubled since then, too. Simply put, the world is in real danger, locked in on a collision course with disaster.

According to new industry data, a growing sector of the U.S. solar energy industry has reached a major new milestone, with 5 million square feet of building-integrated solar air heating collectors now installed in North America. These systems represent 250 megawatts (MW) of thermal energy and displace nearly 100,000 tons of CO2 each year from the atmosphere.